The Orioles selected the contract of knuckleballer Eddie Gamboa, writes Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com. Wesley Wright was added to the disabled list in a corresponding move. Gamboa, 30, had yet to reach the majors although he figures to bounce back and forth this year. He’ll serve as depth in case Kevin Gausman is needed in long relief in the next couple games.

The Rangers have announced that they’ve selected the contract of corner outfielder Carlos Peguero and recalled pitcher Jon Edwards. They’ve also moved Derek Holland (shoulder) to the 60-day disabled list and Ryan Rua (ankle) to the 15-day disabled list. Peguero is in the Rangers’ lineup tonight. The 28-year-old Peguero has played briefly, and not particularly impressively, for the Mariners and Royals in parts of four big-league seasons, but he’s demonstrated serious power in the minors (with 30 homers for Triple-A Omaha last year) and in Spring Training.

The Giants have outrighted infielder Ehire Adrianza to Triple-A Sacramento, MLB.com’s Chris Haft tweets. The team designated Adrianza for assignment last week. Adrianza, 25, hit .237/.279/.299 in 106 plate appearances while playing mostly shortstop and second base for the Giants last season.

The Yankees have announced that they’ve promoted lefty Matt Tracy. To clear space for Tracy on the 25- and 40-man rosters, the Yankees optioned lefty Chasen Shreve to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and moved Ivan Nova to the 60-day disabled list. Tracy will need to be added to the Yankees’ 40-man roster. Tracy’s stay on the roster could turn out to be short, however — the Yankees can use some quick bullpen reinforcements after their 19-inning game against the Red Sox last night, and Tracy would presumably join the team for that purpose. The 26-year-old posted a 3.76 ERA with 5.3 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 150 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A last year.

Rangers starter Derek Holland will not pick up a baseball for the next four to six weeks after being diagnosed with a sub-scapular strain, the club told reporters including Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Twitter).

Holland left his start today after the first inning, continuing a nearly unimaginable string of pitching injuries for the club. Fortunately for Holland, surgery is not on the table, Anthony Andro of FOX Sports Southwest tweets. He’ll undergo a scan in a month, with the course of action determined from that point.

Texas did just sign veteran lefty Wandy Rodriguez to provide an additional option, and he figures to be the most likely candidate to join the big league rotation in the short term. Of course, the club may prefer not to begin paying out Rodriguez’s available incentives (which could reach $1.8MM), though his salary will be at the league-minimum rate.

Holland was not the only casualty in today’s action. The Rangers also saw outfielders Shin-Soo Choo and Ryan Rua leave with injuries — back spasms and a sprained ankle, respectively — and could be left scrambling to fill in its lineup as well.

The Rangers have announced that they’ve designated 1B/OF Mike Carp for assignment. The move clears space for Derek Holland to be activated from the 60-day DL. (The Rangers also recalled Robbie Ross and optioned Nick Tepesch to Triple-A Round Rock.) Carp had only made 46 plate appearances for the Rangers, who claimed him from the Red Sox earlier this month.

Carp, 28, had a breakout season in part-time duty with the Red Sox in 2013, hitting .296/.362/.523. But he never got untracked in 2014, hitting poorly in a small sample in Boston and then requesting a trade. The Red Sox designated him for assignment instead, and he hit even worse while playing first base in Texas, leading to a combined .175/.289/.230 line with no home runs in 145 plate appearances. He’s making $1.4MM in his first season of arbitration eligibility.

Holland, meanwhile, is set to make his 2014 debut after missing the entire season so far after an offseason knee injury and then struggling with back spasms. It will, obviously, be too little too late for a Rangers team whose season has gone south in more ways than it possibly could have imagined, but the standout lefty’s return will surely be a welcome one in Texas.

The Angels have watched the Athletics add Jeff Samardzija and Jon Lester — and now Geovany Soto — to an already-strong club, but they don’t feel a compulsion to make similar moves, Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles Times writes. “You have to make sure you tend your own garden,” says Angels GM Jerry Dipoto. “Don’t worry about what they’re doing. Do what you know will help our team get better.” The Angels will be without Garrett Richards and Tyler Skaggs for the rest of the season, but Dipoto points out that acquiring a starter to replace someone like Richards is different from acquiring a backup catcher, as the Athletics did today. The Angels did recently add Gordon Beckham in a trade with the White Sox. Here’s more from the AL West.

Derek Holland has missed all of this season due to a knee injury, but he’s excited to return to the Rangers in the near future, writes Christian Corona of MLB.com. “There’s no doubt I’m ready. That’s for sure. It’s just now, are they ready for me to come back?” says Holland. “I’ll take whatever they give me. I’m happy to be playing after what I’ve been through.” Holland has recently had back spasms, which could be a complicating factor, although he now says his back isn’t bothering him. Either way, his return will surely be a day of relief for the Rangers, whose season has been destroyed by injuries to Holland, Prince Fielder, Jurickson Profar, Matt Harrison, Martin Perez, Alexi Ogando and numerous others.

With Soto’s departure, the Rangers promoted rookie Tomas Telis, and giving them a preview of what the position might look like for them in 2015, ESPN Dallas’ Calvin Watkins writes. Telis will back up Robinson Chirinos for now, and the Rangers will decide which of them will start next season. “[Telis has] really taken a step forward with his game,” says GM Jon Daniels. “I want to take a look at both those guys.” Top prospect Jorge Alfaro still looks like the Rangers’ catcher of the future, but for now, he’s at Double-A Frisco.

Scott Feldman isn’t concerned that the Astros placed him on revocable waivers, Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle writes. “I don’t think it’s something to worry about,” Feldman says. “It’s part of the game. If they put me on waivers and somebody wants me it will probably be a win-win.” Feldman adds that he’s also happy to stay with the Astros. Feldman is in the first season of a three-year, $30MM contract, so it’s unclear whether someone will claim him. If they want to, they’ll have to do it by tomorrow. The Angels and Tigers might be possibilities, as Peter Gammons noted earlier today.

Top Astros prospect Carlos Correa will miss the rest of the year after undergoing surgery on a broken fibula, reports Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. “The surgery went very well,” said GM Jeff Luhnow. “We expect him to go through a rehab process and return to exactly the point he was at when he got injured.” The 19-year-old shortstop had been close to earning a promotion to Double-A, says Drellich. He owns a robust .325/.416/.510 triple-slash with six long balls and 20 stolen bases in his first 293 plate appearances at the High-A level.

As Astros fans deal with this tough news, here are a few more notes from the AL West…

Rangers lefty Derek Holland will have his minor league rehab assignment pushed back, reports Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News. Holland participated in fielding drills today but wasn’t ready to progress to pitching in games, manager Ron Washington tells Fraley. GM Jon Daniels tells Fraley that the club hasn’t given consideration to shutting Holland down for the season at any point and won’t do so unless there’s significant risk that he could re-injure his problematic knee.

Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports looks at the journey of Matt Shoemaker from undrafted college arm to Angels starting pitcher. After Shoemaker went undrafted, his college coach called Major League teams to tell them that they missed a prospect, and he eventually signed with Anaheim for a modest $10K bonus. Brown’s story also chronicles Shoemaker’s journey and his close relationship with his father and the work the pair put into baseball throughout Shoemaker’s childhood.

Dan Otero has gone from unheralded waiver claim to one of the most valuable relievers in the league, writes Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Assistant GM David Forst — the driving force behind acquiring Otero — tells Slusser that Otero’s command attracted the A’s. Scout John McLaren gave a strong review of Otero after seeing him pitch with the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate. When Otero was waived by the Giants, the Yankees claimed him and tried to sneak him through waivers, only to lose him to the A’s the next day. Since that time, Otero has posted a 1.79 ERA with 5.1 K/9, 1.4 BB/9 and a ground-ball rate north of 57 percent.

TUESDAY: Holland actually underwent microfracture surgery, reports Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News. That procedure comes with a longer rehabilitation time, says Fraley, who notes that Scott Feldman did not return to action until July 22, 2011 after undergoing the surgery in November of 2010.

The club anticipates that Holland will be out until the All-Star break, Fraley notes.

FRIDAY: Rangers starter Derek Holland is out until midseason after a left knee injury that took place Tuesday, according to a team release. Holland suffered the injury in a fall at home, and he had arthroscopic surgery today to fix torn cartilage.

The effect the injury will have on the Rangers' offseason planning is unclear. The Rangers are, however, still unlikely to acquire any of the remaining top pitching options, MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan writes (also via Twitter). Instead, they will try to acquire more depth. That likely means the Rangers are still unlikely to be big players for Masahiro Tanaka.

One year ago, the Red Sox shocked the baseball world when they hit the reset button with their massive blockbuster deal with the Dodgers. Today, Boston finds themselves atop of the AL East, something that very few could have predicted after they shed roughly $270MM in payroll. Alex Speier of WEEI.com has a fascinating article today on the trade that altered the direction of the club and the possible alternatives that could have also taken place. Here's a look at some of the highlights..

One rumor prior to last year's non-waiver deadline had the Red Sox considering a swap of Carl Crawford and Hanley Ramirez with the Marlins. However, such a deal never came close. One source familiar with the talks said that Boston would done the deal straight up, but the problem was the difference in salary. Such a move would have required the Marlins to break out the checkbook as there was $37MM+ owed to Ramirez through 2014 and a whopping $110.5MM owed to Crawford through 2017.

However, there were other proposed deals that had legs, particularly ones involving Josh Beckett. According to multiple industry sources, the Rangers and Red Sox explored a number of possible deals including one that had a framework of Beckett and Jacoby Ellsbury going to Texas with the Red Sox getting left-hander Derek Holland. However, Beckett told WEEI's Rob Bradford that the talks never gained enough traction for the team to discuss the possibility of him waiving his no-trade rights.

The Dodgers were among the clubs with interest in Beckett prior to the July 31st deadline and that was information that the Red Sox stored for later.

The club's previous free-spending ways handcuffed them from even considering a run at Yu Darvish after the 2011 season. Of course, the blockbuster with L.A. gave them much more flexibility going forward. GM Ben Cherington acknowledged that a trade deadline deal like the Jake Peavy trade this year simply wasn't possible given the payroll constraints that the team previously faced.

Boston considered using their prospects to help get out from under bad contracts, but they ultimately decided against that. "We'd made the decision long term, we were just going to need to start holding on to [top prospects] and figuring out what they could do," said one team official. "Instead of picking the right guy, keep them all in the tub and let them decide for us. Back when we were good, that's what we did."

Up until the Dodgers deal happened, Cherington says that he wasn't planning on making any significant moves in August. There was some thought given to turning the Dodgers down and waiting until the offseason when they could revisit talks with L.A. and other clubs. However, Boston didn't want to let the opportunity to start fresh pass them by.

A ridiculous number of three and four-team trade scenarios have been discussed at the Winter Meetings, most of them seemingly involving Arizona's Justin Upton winding up with the Rangers. We'll track the latest on the discussions right here:

The Upton talks aren't dead and never have been, an involved official tells Ken Rosenthal, but it doesn't have more legs than it did two weeks ago.

Rangers GM Jon Daniels left the Winter Meetings without a deal, telling reporters including Jeff Wilson, "I would have guessed something would have happened here. And I would have been wrong. It hasn't gotten to the point where something had fallen through that I thought was going to get done."

Earlier updates:

The Rangers, D'Backs, and Rays are still at the Winter Meetings, working on an Upton blockbuster according to Rosenthal. A friend of Rays top exec Andrew Friedman says that while Friedman has never done a three-way trade, he's determined to get one done.

Rosenthal has one possible outcome: Upton to the Rangers, a Rays starter to the D'Backs, and Mike Olt and other prospects to the Rays. The scenario doesn't seem to satisfy the needs of the D'Backs and Rays, but we'll see.

Bowden adds (also via Twitter) that the Mariners' reasoning for being in these talks is to use their prospects to ensure that Upton lands with Texas, which will open the door for them to sign Josh Hamilton. The Mariners are reportedly in serious talks with Hamilton, who considers them his fallback should he not sign with Texas.

Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio tweets that the Diamondbacks will not budge from their insistence that Andrus or Profar be included in a trade with the Rangers. As such, they're more likely to trade two young pitchers to the Indians to land Cabrera.

The fourth team in some permutations of the blockbuster is the Mariners, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. One official in the talks sees them as the biggest roadblock, as they're unsure whether to move forward and surrender prospects. A source tells Rosenthal the player the Mariners want most in these talks is Derek Holland of the Rangers. Rosenthal says Rangers GM Jon Daniels is driving the trade, "feverishly trying to land" Upton. In the end, the FOX writer says the four-team blockbuster "appears unlikely to happen."

D'Backs GM Kevin Towers said today, "I've had more multi-team talks this year than ever before. In every discussion it seems three or four teams are involved."

The Indians are pushing for the Diamondbacks to include Tyler Skaggs in a deal for Cabrera, tweets Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports. However, Arizona would prefer to move Trevor Bauer.

Although the Diamondbacks like many of the Rangers' prospects, such as Mike Olt, Leury Garcia, and Cody Buckel, they continue to want Elvis Andrus or Jurickson Profar in return for Upton, tweets Passan. At this point, it seems more likely that the D-Backs would move Upton in a multi-team scenario that nets them Cabrera rather than trading straight-up with the Rangers.

With the Rangers believed to be very much involved in the Zack Greinke sweepstakes, Texas is a candidate to add a big-name starter this week, in which case the team may look to trade one of its in-house options. As such, rival teams are calling to inquire about the availability of left-hander Derek Holland, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter).

The Brewers, Twins, and Royals are among the clubs that have been in touch with the Rangers about Holland, says Morosi.